Wednesday, January 13, 2016

WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY: Cate Beauman, Romance-Suspense Author

Cate Beauman, Author
FINDING LYLA
10th Bodyguards of LA County Series
Romance-suspense author Cate Beauman has just released FINDING LYLA, the tenth book in her best-selling Bodyguards of LA County series. As to the suspense part of her newest mystery, reviewers say "Talk about nail biting!" Beauman creates her stories from crime documentaries or articles. For FINDING LYLA she chose the career of her heroine as a Russian ballerina to fit into her interest in the Russian/US conflict.  

When she’s not writing, Beauman spends time with her family and two St. Bernards at their home in North Carolina. She is currently busy working on the eleventh Bodyguard novel, Deceiving Bella.







Q: A key contributor to your romantic suspense Bodyguards of LA County is the profession of your heroine. How and why did you choose dancing for your heroine in FINDING LYLA?

Cate Beauman: Almost all of my ideas for a story come from crime documentaries or interesting articles I find in newspapers and magazines. Usually a topic catches my interest and something just sort of clicks. While I was searching for a new plot idea, I found myself interested in the ongoing Russia/US conflict. I thought the best way to tie the story together would be to make Lyla a ballerina since ballet is such a huge piece of Russia’s culture and an art treasured by so many countries around the world.

As I started building on my initial plot and got to know who I wanted Lyla to be, I knew making her a ballerina was a must. She’s all things that I believe a ballerina to be: strong, dedicated, determined, yet she’s kind and gentle. Collin is funny and easy-going, making this couple a perfect match.

Q: Do you start to write your story with a mystery/plot and then create your hero and heroine to fit the plot? Or do you begin with a heroine and build the mystery around her?

Cate Beauman: It really depends. Each story is different. Because I write a series, it’s a given that some characters are already destined to have a story told about them and I must make the plot work around them, but when I’m starting fresh with a new hero/heroine, the plot typically evolves first and I make the characters fit the situations they will face in their journey among the pages.

Q: How do you select the settings for your story? For FINDING LYLA, did you choose locations where a dancer would perform? Did that influence the direction of the story?

Cate Beauman: For FINDING LYLA, the plot evolved before Lyla’s profession came about. Creating Lyla as a dancer certainly made sense. I had to do a lot of research to make this story come together—far more than typical. Learning about a new culture is always daunting, but I found myself fascinated.

Q: Each of your Bodyguard novels includes the first name of your heroine. How do you select the “verb” that accompanies the name? Is it a difficult process, or is it obvious, given the plot? 

Cate Beauman: Creating the titles for the Bodyguards series keeps the novels cohesive. The verb must have something to do with the plot. Now that I’ve completed ten books and have moved on to tell the eleventh story in the series, it’s becoming a bit trickier to find the right word, but I’m determined to keep finding the perfect verb until the last bodyguard of Ethan Cooke Security has had their story told.

Q: What attracted you to write in the suspense/romance genre? Why do you choose to write in this genre?

Cate Beauman: I truly can’t imagine writing anything other than romantic suspense. Love and danger are such an adventurous mix, heightening both elements in each story. Love is more powerful when there’s something to lose. Danger is more potent when the hero/heroine’s wellbeing is at stake. Writing can be a tedious process. It’s much easier to sit down with my laptop everyday when I get to create action and sexual tension among the pages of my books.

About Cate Beauman

International bestselling author Cate Beauman is known for her full-length, action-packed romantic suspense series, The Bodyguards of L.A. County. Her novels have been nominated for the National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, National Indie Excellence Award, Golden Quill Award, Writers Touch Award, and have been named Readers Favorite Five Star books. In 2015, JUSTICE FOR ABBY was selected as the Readers' Favorite International Book Award Gold Medalist, while SAVING SOPHIE took the Silver Medal. SAVING SOPHIE was also selected as the 2015 Readers Crown Award winner for Romantic Suspense and FALLING FOR SARAH received the silver medal for the 2014 Readers' Favorite Awards.

Cate makes her home in North Carolina with her husband, two boys, and their St. Bernards, Bear and Jack. Currently Cate is working on Deceiving Bella, the eleventh novel in her popular Bodyguards series.

For information on Cate's new releases, monthly giveaways, and upcoming events, sign up for her newsletter at: http://www.catebeauman.com/author/home.html#!newsletter-sign-up/c9td



Principal Dancer Lyla Markovik-Avery is always on the go. Grueling practices and endless performances rule her busy days—and things are about to get more hectic. Russia is rolling out the red carpet for their beloved star, despite the string of violent terrorist attacks that have rocked the nation.

Bodyguard Collin Michaels’ life is falling apart. His long-time relationship recently ended. He’s trying to start over, but that’s easier said than done. Luckily, Collin has a new assignment on the horizon: keeping a beautiful ballerina safe for the next three weeks.

Collin finds comfort in Lyla’s easy friendship, but that all changes after a night out on the town. Simple feelings become complicated—something Collin can’t afford, especially when tragedy strikes and Collin realizes Lyla’s caught in the middle of a dangerous plot for revenge.

Collin and Lyla are forced to flee. They need to reach the border before it’s too late, but the odds are stacked against them in a country that wants them dead. With time running out, Collin formulates a risky plan that might be their only chance of making it out alive.

Excerpt

Collin settled beneath the covers on his temporary bed as the dim glow of city lights radiated through the windows. He reached out, grabbing the remote off the coffee table he’d pushed off to the side, and flipped through several channels, stopping on SportsCenter. Scores and updates ticked by on the bottom of the screen, and he moved on, not all that interested in hockey stats.

He stopped again when the live footage from Saint Petersburg, Russia caught his attention. With the volume on mute, he searched for the closed caption button and sat up, reading the news report while the station switched back and forth between the newscaster and images of the police surrounding a trolleybus in the middle of a downtown street. The reporter spoke of a bomb discovered during the busy morning rush hour, mere miles from the plaza where dozens had been killed on New Year’s Eve. Luckily a citizen had been paying attention, and the explosive device had been deactivated, stopping another disaster.

Early reports were suggesting that the same rebel group responsible for the December thirty-first bombing, Chechen Freedom, had attempted to strike again. The news segment switched to snippets of the video released weeks ago, shortly after the slaughter of innocent civilians, where the masked men promised more violence in retaliation for The Federation killing one of their leaders. The man pointed at the camera, vowing to continue with his plans to destroy Russia until the regime relented and gave the Chechens back their country.

Sighing, Collin rubbed at his jaw. Why did he feel like he was walking into a losing situation? Everyday there was something new going on over there. If it wasn’t bomb threats and anti-American rallies, it was anti-Putin demonstrations outside the Kremlin walls, which often ended with tear gas and riot gear. And he and Lyla were only hours away from their late-afternoon flight.

The issues in Saint Petersburg weren’t necessarily one of his concerns. The city was a good nine hours away from their destination. It was the possibility of terrorist attacks in Moscow and Russia’s discord with the United States in general that had him on edge. The fact that Lyla was a dual citizen of two countries at odds had the potential to work for her…or very much against her. Only time would tell which way things were going to go, and they would be along for the ride while they waited to figure it out.

The Unofficial FINDING LYLA Soundtrack

“Music plays a HUGE part in my writing process. I typically listen to Pandora or YouTube while I create my stories and compile a collection of songs that I feel represent my characters or the situations they face as each novel unfolds. It’s a rare occasion that my creativity demands silence (And that’s a good thing. I’m a mother of two boys. Quiet doesn’t exist in my house.). I thought it would be fun to create a list of songs that ‘spoke’ to me while I wrote the Bodyguards of L.A. County series. You can listen to the “soundtrack” for each book on my website www.catebeauman.com

The soundtrack, of sorts, for FINDING LYLA:
·      Today by Steve Moakler
·      Beautiful Things by Gungor
·      Teneferie Sea by Ed Sheeran
·      Shut Up and Dance by Walk The Moon
·      Anywhere but Here by Safety Suit
·      Never Gonna Be Alone by Nickelback
·      Nirvana by Sam Smith
·      Don’t Deserve You by Plumb 
·      Unconditionally by Katy Perry
·      You’re in Love by Taylor Swift
·      Fight Song by Rachel Platton

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1 comment:

  1. Hi Joyce!

    I'm so excited to be back on your blog! Thank you very much for being such a good friend!

    ~Cate

    ReplyDelete